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4. Inquiry Project and Creative Thinking 

Fulbright teachers have to complete an inquiry project as a part of Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Program. The Inquiry project synthesizes the study, inquiry and professional development activities undertaken while in the host country. Synthesizing is like pouring all experiences, thoughts, what we have learned, people we have met, different events and schools we have visited, into a huge funnel, and abracadabra, inquiry project is finished! 

Sounds quite easy? Not really! I have experienced so much during this program that keeping the basic idea of my own inquiry project in mind is sometimes quite challenging. Temptation to step out of my path - learner-centered teaching methods - is lurking there all the time. Either is it easy to keep my mind open and not jump into conclusions too early. This is a midpoint of our program and there are still many events ahead, which will provide material for my inquiry project. 

To finish up our inquiry projects we need creative thinking. Creative thinking is staying in a condition when you don´t really know where you are. You are accomplishing something that didn´t exist before but you don´t know yet what it will be. The process of creative thinking is copying, transforming, combining, and remixing all this phases. Sometimes it is frustrating and confusing, but at the same time, so inspirational and rewarding. I just have to let all experiences trundle over me and see what grows up. However, I must not forget that only 10 percent of creativity is inspiration and the rest 90 percent is perspiration!